Your Eyes In Space Open the simulation

Nebula

Sh2-106

H II region

A cloud of ionised hydrogen (H II region): a stellar nursery glowing in the ultraviolet light of the young, hot O and B stars inside it. The distance is measured from the parallax of masers in the region.

TypeNebula
ConstellationCygnus
Distance1,300 pc (4.2 thousand ly)
Diameter11.2 ly
WISE nameG076.384-00.621
Catalogue statusKnown H II region
SourceWISE H II Catalog v3.0
Right ascension (J2000)20h 27m 26.8s
Declination (J2000)+37° 22′ 51″

In the sky

Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 53° S. North of latitude 53° N it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in July, the best time to observe it.

Through a telescope from Earth

Light's journey

The light you see tonight set out 4,240 years ago. At that time the first farming villages were being founded; there was no writing yet. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 75 million years.

Open in the simulation